Source: “The Not Yorker” is a collection of declined or late cover submissions to The New Yorker, curated by illustrators who love and admire traditional cover illustration. This site is for celebrating cover art, and great ideas that didn’t make it. Illustrators are encouraged to submit their rejected covers , so that they might have the opportunity to be rejected by this group as well. The site is not officially affiliated with The New Yorker

This declined cover is was created by John Tomac andtitled “Christmas 2017”.

Christmas tree prices in New York City have reached a staggering high of $1,000, amid hiked up tree prices this year due to drought-caused tree shortages. Heather Neville, who sells Christmas trees in New York’s Greenwich Village, told the New York Post on Sunday that her tallest tree costs about $77 per foot. Neville said the particular tree is priced so high because they are “harder to get.” “This 13-foot-tree—a beautiful fir—is $750, and with delivery, installation with a stand and tip would be $1,000,” she said. She said tree prices could top $1,000, pointing out a 15-foot one that could go for $1,200, including the delivery and set up.

Like this:

The silence of this morning.
The ethereal mist that swaddles this day.
The heartbeats that sleep peacefully under this roof.
The stirring of blessings bestowed by Family.
The blood silently pumps from the heart to the lungs.
I breathe Gratitude.

“Children from the Homeless Children’s Aid and Adoption Society Home at Leytonstone, London, hauling in their Christmas tree. I love these children’s outfits and it was probably their last Xmas in London before they were evacuated. (10th December 1938 by Gerry Cranham)”

As I have practiced it, photography produces pleasure by simplicity. I see something special and show it to the camera. A picture is produced. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs.

“The gap between Christmas-tree and store sales may be a sign that the shift in spending away from brick-and-mortar retailers and toward online shopping, and experiences over things, has intensified this year. Put simply, people would rather spend money at Amazon, or on meals and vacations, than on stuff at the store. That may explain why Christmas-tree sellers aren’t getting hurt by the changed environment.

For many people getting a tree, hauling it home and trimming it counts more as buying an experience more than it counts as buying a thing.”